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50 Facts Everyone Should Know About Crime and Punishment in Britain
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Edited by:
James Treadwell
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2019
About this book
Are you the kind of person who watches crime drama and real-life crime documentaries on television? Are you fascinated by the twists and turns of justice and the law? But how much do you really know about key issues in crime, crime control, policing and punishment in the UK? This exciting, dynamic and accessible book, written by leading experts, presents 50 key facts related to crime and criminal justice policy in Britain. Did you know that, contrary to public belief, in the UK a life sentence does actually last for life? And that capital punishment in the UK was abolished for murder in 1965 but the Death Penalty was a legally defined punishment as late as 1998? Offering thought-provoking insights into the study of crime, this fascinating “go to” book is packed with facts and figures revealing the myths and realities of crime in contemporary Britain.
Topics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
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Notes on the editors
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Introduction
1 - Part One. Historical context
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FACT 1 The Crime Survey for England and Wales in 2017 states that there were 10.8 million incidents of crime in the previous year
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FACT 2 Capital punishment in the UK was abolished in 1965, but the Death Penalty was a legally defined punishment until 1998
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FACT 3 Homosexual male (gay) sex was only decriminalised in England some 50 years ago
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FACT 4 The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) was set up 60 years before the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
27 - Part Two. Crime in Britain today
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FACT 5 Vehicle crime in England and Wales has fallen by 80% since 1993
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FACT 6 Businesses face higher rates of victimisation than households or individuals
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FACT 7 From 2007 to 2017, there were around 2.3 million deliberate fires in the UK, resulting in over 25,000 injuries and over 900 deaths
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FACT 8 Between 2016 and 2017, 80,393 hate crimes were committed in England and Wales
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FACT 9 The cost of waste crime in the UK exceeded £1 billion for the first time in 2016
54 - Part Three. International comparisons
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FACT 10 There is a 0.9 per 100,000 people murder rate in the UK; in Lithuania, it is 5.9 per 100,000
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FACT 11 The age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is the lowest in Europe at just 10 years old
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FACT 12 Between 2004 and 2017, 33 people were fatally shot by the police in England and Wales
70 - Part Four. The police
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FACT 13 There were 298,949 police stop-and-search incidents in England and Wales in 2016/17 – a rate of 5 per 1,000 people
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FACT 14 The police and security services are keeping 3,000 people in the UK under surveillance for suspected terrorist activities
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FACT 15 The Metropolitan Police Service examines approximately 40,000 digital forensics devices annually
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FACT 16 Police officers comprise only 60% of the police workforce in England and Wales
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FACT 17 An individual police officer will attend to approximately 150 non-crime-related issues per year
96 - Part Five. Prison realities
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FACT 18 Contrary to what people often think, a life sentence does last for life
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FACT 19 The average yearly cost of keeping one person in prison in England and Wales is £35,182
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FACT 20 In 2016, almost 289,605 extra days (or 793 years of imprisonment) were added to prisoners’ sentences
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FACT 21 3.5% of those serving a sentence in the criminal justice system in England and Wales are former military personnel
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FACT 22 Prisons are now the largest provider of residential care for older men in England and Wales
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FACT 23 The female prison population accounts for just under 5% of the total prison population
126 - Part Six. Criminal justice
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FACT 24 Around 84% of all offenders who appear before the courts are convicted
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FACT 25 Judges in courts in England and Wales do not use gavels
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FACT 26 The Home Office claims that around 100,000 people are responsible for half of all recorded crime
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FACT 27 In 2017 there were 260,000 offenders in the community under statutory supervision by the criminal justice system in England and Wales
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FACT 28 It’s (nearly) impossible to go to jail for not paying your debts, but mass indebtedness nonetheless remains an entry point to many crime problems
151 - Part Seven. Black market Britain
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FACT 29 The number of suspected victims of trafficking and slavery in the UK increased by 35% in 2017; of the 5,145 suspected victims from 116 countries, 2,118 were minors
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FACT 30 The fake medicine trade has now overtaken marijuana as the world’s largest market for criminal traffickers
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FACT 31 Tackling drug trafficking costs the UK government £10.7 billion annually
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FACT 32 Alcohol-related crime in the UK is estimated to cost the economy between £8 billion and £13 billion per year
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FACT 33 For every £1 spent on drug-related treatment, there is a £2.50 benefit to society
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FACT 34 If you get caught selling counterfeits, you can face a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine
187 - Part Eight. Violent Britain
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FACT 35 There is no comprehensive national figure for the number of gangs or the number of young people involved or associated with gangs
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FACT 36 Britain’s most prolific serial killer was Dr Harold Shipman, yet we are still uncertain how many people he actually killed
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FACT 37 The average cost of a contract murder in the UK is just £15,180
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FACT 38 Sex workers in the UK are 12 times more likely to be murdered than the general population
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FACT 39 Not all violence is criminal
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FACT 40 You cannot consent to be harmed in sex, but you can in the boxing ring
216 - Part Nine. Victims
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FACT 41 64% of homicide victims are male
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FACT 42 It is claimed that around one in 20 children in Britain are sexually abused
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FACT 43 More than three-quarters of people sleeping rough have been victims of crime or antisocial behaviour in the past year
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FACT 44 In 2015/16, the NHS treated over 9,000 cases of female genital mutilation
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FACT 45 Two women are killed each week by a current or former partner in England and Wales
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FACT 46 Almost 50% of stalkers present themselves at their victim’s workplace
246 - Part Ten. Crime and technology
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FACT 47 Around one in six of all estimated crimes in England and Wales in the year to September 2016 were fraud committed online, according to the Office for National Statistics
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FACT 48 The number of alleged crimes involving social media such as Facebook and Twitter have increased nearly eightfold between 2008 and 2012
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FACT 49 There is estimated to be one CCTV camera for every 14 people in the UK
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FACT 50 There are currently some 11,000 offenders subject to ‘tagging’ on any day in England and Wales, and the UK is one of Europe’s keenest adopters of electronic monitoring of offenders
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References
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Index
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
March 27, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9781447343820
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
176
eBook ISBN:
9781447343820
Audience(s) for this book
College/higher education;
